856 Backlunda

Picture of the Day · NASA

Pathfinder on Mars

2026-07-04

On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.

via NASA APOD

Key facts

Discovered by

S. Belyavskyj

Discovery site

Simeiz Obs.

Discovery date

3 April 1916

Named after

Oskar Backlund , (Swedish-Russian astronomer)

Alternative designations

A916 GQ · 1955 PB, 1955 QO 1 · 1958 LA, 1959 SQ · 1962 MA, A908 CB · 1916 Σ30

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) background

Observation arc

88.67 yr (32,385 d)

Aphelion

2.7255 AU

Perihelion

2.1440 AU

Semi major axis

2.4348 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.80 yr (1,388 d)

Mean anomaly

137.72 °

Mean motion

0° 15 33.84 / day

Inclination

14.328°

Longitude of ascending node

125.54°

Argument of perihelion

72.999°

Mean diameter

43.43 ± 0.50 km 45.449 ± 0.132 km

Synodic rotation period

12.08 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

45.449

Orbital period

1389.084452502799

via Wikidata · CC0